The second round wrapped up on Thursday at the Calgary National Bank Challenger. Six Canadians were in main draw action in Calgary, but only three were able to make it past the opening round. With a tough field of competition, the path to the title was not going to be easy. Wild card recipients Steven Diez (Toronto, ON) and Harrison Scott (Canada) fell early on to higher ranked opponents while Pavel Krainik (Toronto, ON) was drawn against compatriot Filip Peliwo (Vancouver, BC), with the more experienced Peliwo prevailing. Currently playing on the NCAA University circuit, Alexis Galarneau (Laval, QC) caused the upset in his first round match, but was unable to repeat the feat against the tournament’s top seed, Jordan Thompson of Australia. Galarneau fell by a score of 6-0, 6-2 at the hands of the former world no. 63.
As for Peliwo, after defeating his fellow Canadian in the first round, he went on to eliminate Collin Altamirano of the United States on Wednesday. The American had caused the upset earlier on in the tournament when he ousted the seventh seed Jay Clarke of Great Britain. Despite dropping the opening set, the Vancouver native cleaned up his service game to take the second in a tiebreak and force a third set. In the decider, Peliwo dominated his opponent and won the match after a little over two hours of play. In the quarter-finals, he will face qualifier Borna Gojo of Croatia who surprised the third seed Jason Jung of Taipei in the second round.
Hoping to join his compatriot in the quarter-finals was Brayden Schnur (Pickering, ON), who had the tough task of facing Adrian Menendez-Maceiras of Spain, the fourth seed in Calgary. The Canadian got off to a slow start on Thursday evening, falling behind early. He turned things around in the second, stepping up his game while his opponent began to make more errors. Despite committing six doubles faults, Schnur managed to total six aces and power his way past his Spanish counterpart by a score of 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(4). Things will not get any easier for the Ontario native, as he is scheduled to take on Casper Ruud of Norway, the fifth seed.
The tournament’s second seed, Ivo Karlovic of Croatia, had a tough time in his opening round match, needing three tight sets, all of which ended in tiebreaks, to make it through to the next round. He had a slightly easier time on Thursday, defeating Mathias Bourge of France after just under two hours of play. His next opponent will be Roberto Quiroz of Ecuador. Quarter-final action gets started on Friday at noon (MDT) with Peliwo kicking things off.
